Northwest Airlines said Wednesday that it is putting another advertising agency in charge of creating commercials for its smoke-free flights to relieve pressures on the agency that created the first ads for its program. Saatchi & Saatchi DFS Compton, a huge New York-based agency, created the first ads for Northwest's no-smoking program and remains the airline's agency for other advertising.

Northwest Airlines said Wednesday that it is putting another advertising agency in charge of creating commercials for its smoke-free flights to relieve pressures on the agency that created the first ads for its program. Saatchi & Saatchi DFS Compton, a huge New York-based agency, created the first ads for Northwest's no-smoking program and remains the airline's agency for other advertising.

RJR Nabisco fired one of its longtime advertising agencies Tuesday, and a source familiar with the decision said the tobacco and foods giant was offended by a no-smoking ad that the agency recently made for Northwest Airlines. The agency, Saatchi & Saatchi DFS Inc., is the successor to agencies that have been making ads for Nabisco cookies for 12 years and for Life Savers candy for 18 years.

It is a striking commercial. When a pilot comes on the loud speaker and announces Northwest Airline's new no-smoking policy, a planeload of passengers break into applause. And if that's not raucous enough, a new ad to air next week shows passengers erupting in loud cheers. Hundreds of miles away from Northwest's headquarters in Minnesota, the corporate officials at RJR Nabisco didn't stand up and cheer when they saw the commercial. RJR, of course, is short for R. J.

With the probability that TV writers will go back to work Monday, "There's going to be a lot of pent-up energy that's going to explode in Hollywood," a top industry analyst said Thursday. But the explosion won't be in the Nielsen ratings.

ABC already has lost about $23 million on "War and Remembrance," and some advertising executives say the figure is likely to climb with the concluding episodes that begin airing Sunday. Just as the World War II miniseries failed to generate the ratings that ABC had projected for the first installment last November, so too is the second one expected to fall short of the network's guarantees to sponsors, these executives maintain. ABC has promised to deliver an average rating of between 18 and 19 for the final 11 1/2 hours of "War and Remembrance" (which translates to between 16 million and 17 million homes)

Imagine creating ads for some of the world's biggest also-rans. How do you outmaneuver McDonald's--which spends nearly $1 billion dollars every year promoting happiness-on-a-bun? Who can slice away market share from Pizza Hut, the undisputed pizza kingpin? And if General Electric is the only light bulb maker that can bring good things to life, is everyone else in the dark? Not necessarily.

Rod Stewart has been replaced by an electronic keyboard. And the Temptations have been zapped by a couple of electronic synthesizers. For this we can thank Madison Avenue. In its penchant for change, the advertising world is already waving goodby to the 1960s music nostalgia boom and saying hello to a new breed of electronic and acoustic sounds, generally known as "New Age" music. Unlike rock 'n' roll, however, it is tough to put a finger on what exactly New Age music is.

Debra Kimpel doesn't remember much about the accident. But seconds after her car was broadsided by a drunken driver, the bones on the left side of her face crumbled into nearly 500 pieces. One year later, her face is still ravaged with scars. And when people in her home town of Spokane, Wash., turn on their television sets, they see a public service commercial that doesn't just tell the tale--it shows the results.

Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington were all in the running to be the test market for Allie's, Marriott Corp.'s new family restaurant chain. Marriott passed on all of them, however--from the City of Angels to the nation's capital--in favor of another major metropolitan area: San Diego. The first Allie's, at the site of Marriott's former Big Boy restaurant on Sports Arena Boulevard, had its grand opening June 25. The Bethesda, Md.

It's going to be another bad week at Black Rock. Bad news hasn't been a stranger in the CBS corporate offices this past year, and when the final prime-time ratings for this television season are released Tuesday, the network will be sitting in the cellar. It's been a fall from the top in a very short time. CBS was first in evening ratings for six seasons before NBC came out on top in 1985. Then CBS was second for two more years to NBC.